Mets Choosing Sides in World Cup

Mets reliever Carlos Torres was sitting at his locker Wednesday, speaking into his phone in a hushed tone and a hurried manner. Torres sounded desperate, almost as if he were begging.

“Can this be shipped by tomorrow?” he said.

Torres was trying to get a green Mexico soccer jersey before the opening day of the World Cup on Thursday. It had become a tradition for Torres to have Mexico’s newest jersey for each Cup. Sure enough, the jersey arrived in time, and Torres proudly wore it around the clubhouse Thursday before hanging it in his locker, for all to see, as a sign of pride. He vowed to “guilt-trip” each of his teammates into wearing the jersey of their country.

By Friday afternoon, World Cup fever had started to spread in the Mets’ clubhouse. Long before the Mets beat the Padres, 6-2, in a game that was delayed nearly two hours because of rain, three televisions were tuned to the match between Spain and the Netherlands. Torres watched the game on his iPad, knowing Mexico had already pulled out a 1-0 win over Cameroon earlier in the day.

The result of the Mexico game, and perhaps the freshness of a new day, had Torres in a better mood than when he left Thursday night’s game against the Milwaukee Brewers.

He left that game in the 13th with the bases loaded and no one out, having watched a tie game get away from him. He sat in the dugout, covered his face with a towel and punched himself in the head twice with his right hand and once with his left. Then he appeared to yell and crane his neck, the entire sequence caught on camera.

Torres, who is known for energetic nature, has been relied on by Manager Terry Collins this season to fulfill practically any need that arises in the Mets’ beleaguered bullpen.

Collins has used him as a closer, a setup man or a spot starter; brought him in in the fifth inning, the sixth or the eighth; left him in for one batter, one inning or three innings.

On Thursday, Collins called on Torres in the 12th inning against the Milwaukee Brewers. It was the 35th appearance Torres had made in 66 games, the most by a Mets pitcher this season, and he was clearly fatigued. In the 13th, Torres was charged with four runs that proved the difference in a 5-1 loss.

Asked after the game if he thought he was too hard on himself, Torres said, “I don’t really think so.”

On Friday, he explained his soccer allegiance by saying that even though he grew up in Santa Cruz, Calif., his father, Jose Torres, was from Zacatecas, Mexico. He said his father had him play soccer for the same reasons he had him play several other sports — “to stay out of trouble.”

Torres called himself a “World Cup fan” more than an “everyday soccer fan.”

“I mean, I’ll watch it if it’s on TV,” he said. “People usually think it’s weird if they’re sitting there and I’m watching soccer. They’re like, ‘I don’t get it.’

“And I’m like, ‘It’s not meant for your to “get,” I guess.’ ”But he was not alone in tuning in to the soccer Friday. Across the clubhouse from him, Bobby Abreu was rooting for the Netherlands, and Ruben Tejada was cheering for Spain, although Tejada had a yellow Brazil jersey hanging in his locker.

Daniel Murphy and David Wright paused and watched a replay of a spectacular diving header for a goal by the Netherlands’ Robin van Persie. Wright asked if he had been offside, and Murphy explained, in great detail, why the goal had been legal.

Murphy became a soccer fan — particularly a fan of Tottenham Hotspur of the Premier League — by playing soccer video games. He stressed the importance of the United States beating Ghana on Monday if the Americans were going to have a chance of advancing out of group play. Jon Niese said he was a forward in high school and never once flopped. Growing up in Japan, Daisuke Matsuzaka preferred soccer. He thought he would make a good midfielder.

“But there were no local soccer teams in my area,” he said through an interpreter, “so I ended up having to play baseball.”

As the rain delay stretched to almost two hours Friday, Torres and his teammates had the option of catching the end of the World Cup match between Australia and Chile.

INSIDE PITCH

Behind Bobby Abreu and Bartolo Colon, the Mets beat the Brewers, 6-2, on Thursday to improve to 30-37. Abreu went 4 for 4 with two runs scored and two runs batted in, and Colon held the Brewers to two runs in seven and a third innings. His lone blemish was a two-run homer by Rene Rivera in the second. He then retired the next 18 batters.